previewed by Anne Garber

As its title suggests, Mount Appetite is about hunger -- hunger for love, acknowledgment, comfort, clear answers. In each of his stories, Bill Gaston mines another vein of desire running through the heart of yet another wholly original character. He is a writer of great empathy, capable, it seems, of getting beneath the skin of anybody, from a faith healer to a heroin addict to a teenaged 7-Eleven clerk. His language is pure, his concerns humane. And his insights are offered up with a humility that recognizes the possibility of other insights, other conclusions to be drawn. This is a sophisticated, generous book, steeped in the poignancy of longing. -- Barbara Gowdy, Thomas King, William New; The 2002 Giller Jury

From the Publisher: A wry and witty collection by one of the country's best-loved storytellers, Mount Appetite is vintage Gaston: candid, personal, unabashed. The mountain of the title is no physical peak but, rather, a state of grace, a hierarchy of desire, a pinnacle of both truth and perfection. "Everyone at the top of Mt. Appetite is as close as they can get to heaven. It's work to get there and agony to be denied." This relentless state of longing is the subject of many of Gaston's stories, each one by turns grotesque and gorgeous, unsettling and familiar.